First Expo TT of 2011

Well the night started on a bit of a down note. As I turned onto I-84 a cop stopped me on the entrance ramp. I ended up getting a warning for tinted windows. I now have twenty days to get them corrected and checked by the DMV or I will get my registration suspended and possibly my license. I should note that as a middle school math teacher I am a serious threat to society and should be harassed by cops. Luckily he didn't search my car. Only God knows what kind of crazy lesson plans he might have found.

Anyways I got to the time trial and saw a familiar face from the past, Tom Phillips. He didn't recognize me as apparently since my teen years I've gotten "thicker," lol. I prefer to think of myself as buff or beer strong.

The time trial started with not a single person warming up properly before, yet chatting at the start line while waiting to start. Noting that it makes you tougher when you don't warm up for a hard effort I followed suit. Soon it was time for pain.

Riders started at 30 second intervals and I had plenty of riders to chase. I started and quickly ramped up my speed to 40 kph ... then I noticed I was going up hill and slowed down to 27 - 30 kph on the up hill portions during the first part. I started to pass riders and then felt sort of badass despite these weird burning sensations coming from my legs. Knowing that the hill was ending and I knew I would be rewarded with more body friendly terrain I started to get psyched as I reached the halfway point.

On the more body friendly terrain I noted my speed going up to 48 kph (30 mph) from time to time but today there was a strong headwind and it was a _________________ (insert bad word here). I literally hid my head in my aerobars preferring to hide from the wind as much as possible versus looking at the road. I figured if I crashed the effort would end and that burning sensation would at least be transferred from my legs to other parts of my body. Eventually I made it through and despite passing 5 people and not being caught myself I figured I'd have a good time but alas it was nothing to write home about. Yet still I am typing.

After the race Ben and I compared notes. He is 6'3" and 198, while I am 5'11" and 199 or so. He noted my arms were bigger than his when we flexed. We got some weird look from some guy pretending to be a cyclist as he left. Ben noted that "we can do whatever we want, we're cyclists." Obviously that guy was not a cyclist or he would have thought, "whatever, two cyclists randomly flexing in a parking lot after a race, totally normal ..."

Anyways, Aiden, the skinny one, won the race. To add insult to injury, Aiden's van has window's that are totally covered and he doesn't get harassed, probably because he doesn't live near Uconn. I guess I can take solace that if Aiden and I were in an arm flexing contest I would totally win.